DavBuc
Banned
Another thing that will possibly hurt dive shops is that some equipment manufacturers now sell directly to consumers. I know ScubaPro does this. I'm assuming they sell for the retail price but at some point I suspect they may offer a better deal then retail.
The local dive shops will react in the only way they can- as they certify new students they will steer them towards gear produced by manufacturers who aren't trying to circumvent them, maybe even going so far as to disparage gear sold by such companies, it's literally their only way of possibly defending themselves. So the manufacturers that sell direct to consumers may lose some business from new divers, problem for the LDS is how many new divers are there, compared to the existing dive population that is more than happy to buy direct to save a few bucks.
The equipment manufacturers aren't dumb, they know they'll alienate the dive shops by selling direct, they have most likely done the market research, had a few board meetings and came up with the conclusion that they will do better with their strategy which is of course throwing the LDS under the bus.